Jeremiah 18, Potter and Plot (DRAFT)

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

Jeremiah 18:1-10, Clay in the potter's hands

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 

So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 

Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. 

In this metaphor, the potter can shape and reshape the clay. If the pot is marred, he can tear up the clay, mold it again and make a new pot. In the same way, God can remake Israel or any other nation. This is a favorite metaphor for the prophets, showing up here and in Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 64:8, and, in the New Testament, Romans 9:19-21, 

Jeremiah 18:11-12, Turn away! No!

"Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, `This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' 

But they will reply, `It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'" 

God still appears to be offering a way out of disasgter but He knows that the people will refuse.

Jeremiah 18:13-15, A rare event is coming

Therefore this is what the LORD says: 

"Inquire among the nations: 

Who has ever heard anything like this?

A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel. 

Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? 

Do its cool waters from distant sources ever cease to flow?

What is coming will be an unusual event, like the snow of Lebanon fading away completely.

Jeremiah 18:16-17, A wind from the east

Yet my people have forgotten me; 

they burn incense to worthless idols, 

which made them stumble in their ways 

and in the ancient paths. 

They made them walk in bypaths

 and on roads not built up.

Their land will be laid waste, 

an object of lasting scorn; 

all who pass by will be appalled 

and will shake their heads. 

Like a wind from the east, 

I will scatter them before their enemies; 

I will show them my back 

and not my face in the day of their disaster." 

Like a wind from the east blows away trash, an army from the east will scatter the people of Judah.

Jeremiah 18:18, Plot against Jeremiah

They said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says." 

The leaders begin to plot against Jeremiah. Jeremiah, whose message is unsettling, must be silenced.

Jeremiah 18:19-23, An imprecatory prayer

Listen to me, O LORD;

 hear what my accusers are saying! 

Should good be repaid with evil? 

Yet they have dug a pit for me. 

Remember that I stood before you 

and spoke in their behalf

 to turn your wrath away from them.

So give their children over to famine; 

hand them over to the power of the sword. 

Let their wives be made childless and widows; 

let their men be put to death,

 their young men slain by the sword in battle. 

Let a cry be heard from their houses 

when you suddenly bring invaders against them, 

for they have dug a pit to capture me 

and have hidden snares for my feet. 

But you know, O LORD, 

all their plots to kill me. 

Do not forgive their crimes 

or blot out their sins from your sight. 

Let them be overthrown before you; 

deal with them in the time of your anger. 

The plot against Jeremiah leads to a prayer in which Jeremiah asks that YHWH bring down his enemies. Jeremiah's request (curse) is quite violent -- he wants these people killed. This compares with the violence of the upcoming invasion, 

 David penned words like this in the psalms (see Psalm 69:19-28), as did others (see Psalm 137:8-9.)